what happens if second half of Alex is all physical?

[Brannigan]

Assuming one considers Dark Dance and Bulwark to be roughly equivalent CDs (consider their relative uptime/duration/recast/potency), and the fact that Dark Dance can, beyond the use of the buff itself, be used to control Reprisal usage, then really the only tool PLD edges DRK out on physically is Sheltron, which barely counts.

Bulwark is trash except against trash. Halone is the real X factor when it comes to physical damage, but you're right about DRK's physical mitigation not being as bad as people make it out to be.

[Syzygian]

Bulwark is trash except against trash. Halone is the real X factor when it comes to physical damage, but you're right about DRK's physical mitigation not being as bad as people make it out to be.

Bulwark is actually not trash at all, with the right shield you can get close to a 100% block rate which made it an integral part of CD rotations for things like Flatten in t13. DRK's physical mitigation lies in intelligent usage of Dark Dance and Reprisal synergy, and cooldown combinations like Foresight+Awareness are just as effective for DRK as for the other tanks at toning down boss autos and trash damage.

Halone really isn't in a great spot right now. Its awkward duration makes it difficult for PLD to rotate its combos correctly. If you moved that debuff to the Royal Authority combo that would solve everything- spam Halone till you have a good lead, then alternate between RA and Goring Blade. I think WAR's aggro combo being its top DPS is really crappy as well. It has to make a DPS sacrifice to provide utility to its party, and if the PLD or DRK MT wants to tank outside their tank stance, they can't maintain a proper DPS rotation because they are having to constantly go back to their enmity combo to babysit the WAR's aggro. Honestly I think DRK has the best designed combos at the moment, enabling and encouraging players to get a solid lead on enmity early and quickly, having high base potencies, and then leaving you free to do good dps which is happens to be married to the combos that have the most utility (delirium and souleater) for themselves and the raid.

[Brannigan]

Bulwark is actually not trash at all, with the right shield you can get close to a 100% block rate which made it an integral part of CD rotations for things like Flatten in t13.

Nah, Bulwark is trash for busters. 3 minute cooldown and still leaves you with a significant chance to take the hit on the chin. With a Diamond Shield and a lot of dexterity you could push it to 100%, but it wasn't really practical. Like, yeah, use it, but it isn't good. It's just better than nothing.